Dave & Meredith’s Travel Blog

Better late than never, my gallery of pictures from our trip to the Southwest in October is now up. You can click here to see it or look at the list of galleries on the Photo Galleries page.

- Dave

Zion National Park is probably one of the most scenic parks we’ve been to on this trip.  It’s not the largest park, but it has a huge variety of scenery, due to its range in elevation and lots of water.  The main part of the park is a 6-mile stretch of Zion Canyon, a massive canyon carved by the Virgin River.  Most people only see this section of the park, although there are a couple other sections that are more remote, but doable by car (we drove the East entrance road, and the Kolob Canyon and Kolob Terrace roads).  There are also miles and miles of backcountry hiking trails that we didn’t explore on this trip but we’d love to at some point in the future.

Unlike many of the parks we’ve been to on this trip, Zion has the right conditions for trees, both evergreen and deciduous.  The fall colors were just coming out when we were there, so it made the park that much more special.  There was also a good diversity of wildlife in the park.  While we were there, we saw mule deer, bighorn sheep, squirrels, all sorts of birds, etc.

The scale of Zion Canyon’s walls are so great, it has inspired many artists and photographers to try to capture that grandiosity.  I think Zion is one of those places, however, that looks better in person, even though pictures can be really well done.  With that said, Dave got some good ones, so, enjoy!

"Towers of the Virgin" at Sunrise (lots of Biblical names at Zion)

A view of the waterfall above "Lower Emerald Pool" (supposedly there’s a lot more water in springtime)

"The Watchman" at sunset

Gorgeous fall colors

More fall colors in a dry wash on the Eastern side of the park

This desert environment is right near all those deciduous trees

Late afternoon sun on the eastern side of the park

- Meredith

Here is the view from our tent at the campground just outside Zion NP, where we stayed 3 nights:

Not too shabby!

- Meredith

There is an overlook at Bryce Canyon NP named Sunset Point and a trail down into the canyon named Navajo Loop begins there. As we stood there at sunset taking a few pictures, we noticed a guy pushing a stroller up the trail. Here’s the long view of him on the trail. He’s roughly in the center:

It’s a packed dirt trail but far from smooth. There are definitely lots of pebbles and rocks along the way. Here’s a close up of the guy working it:

That kid got a sweet ride. I wonder if daddy will do that again.

- Dave

Bryce Canyon NP is a beautiful park that we did a decent job of visiting in 24 hours.  We got photos at sunset, sunrise, and a really fun 3-mile hike while we were there.  Here are some pictures:

A broad shot of the Bryce Canyon "amphitheater" at sunrise.  Dave was really happy there were interesting clouds that day.

Another sunrise shot captures the golden glow

The tallest formation in this shot is called "Thor’s Hammer"

This is what I do when Dave’s taking pictures at sunrise

The hike we did goes right into the amphitheater.  This area is called "Wall Street".  The nearest person to the camera is me (for scale).

Another viewpoint from our hike.  Fabulous!

A nice couple from Alaska took this picture of us near the end of our hike

- Meredith

Here is the view from our tent at the campground at Bryce Canyon NP:

We only stayed one night, but it was the nicest setting for our tent so far.

- Meredith

In Meredith’s last post, she mentioned how I got lucky and obtained a permit to hike in Coyote Buttes North to go see The Wave. I guess I didn’t realize how lucky I was until I spoke with a few people who had been turned down. There was the guy who walked into the BLM office only 15 minutes after I did. I mentioned my luck to several other people and most expressed some degree of disbelief and usually then offered a story of some acquaintance of theirs who got turned down 5 days in a row. So anyway, I guess the stars were in alignment that day.

As Meredith and I split and she headed toward the Wire Pass slot canyon, I struck out through the northern part of the Coyote Buttes (hence the name). A hike through a sandy hill and a large wash then up and through a notch in a sandstone ridge gave me my first views of the Buttes. These have a mix of white, red and sometimes yellow striations in them that in some cases look like taffy. In the case of The Wave, the surface has been worn almost smooth which really intensifies the effect. I then hiked south along the ridge line for a while, made the climb up a sandy dune slope which is the final approach and there I was in the entrance to The Wave. You can’t see it all until you’re right in it. I wonder what the first person to discover it thought when they happened upon it. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in nature. For a photographer, it’s somewhat of a bonanza. It’s hard to know where to point your camera first.

I spent about 4 hours there after arriving then retraced my steps back to the trail head. The hike from end to end is about an hour and a half including time to take a bunch of pictures along the way. That makes about 7 straight hours in the direct sun. I had lots of water to last all day but I was pretty worn out at the end. I slept well that night! Here are a few pictures I took that day:

Above: In the entrance to the Wave, looking back over Coyote Buttes

Above: Looking down the “heart” of the Wave

Above: Inside the Wave

Above: Two other people in the Wave to give a sense of scale

Above: Near the top of the Wave where the lower part of a butte begins the Wave

Above: There are lots of abstract patterns on some of the walls in the Wave

Above: Looking up the “secret passage” of the Wave, a narrow path to the side of the main part

Above: Looking back down the “secret passage”

Above: on the hike back, a typical view of the Coyote Buttes

Above: much of the hike to the Wave was across slickrock like this.

Above: Another view of the Coyote Buttes

- Dave

There’s a place on the Utah/Arizona border called Coyote Buttes that is a natural wonder and a very productive spot for photographers.  The site is protected and managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  They allow just 20 visitors per day.  Half the visitors reserve their spot months in advance online, and the other half participate in a daily lottery (each morning’s lottery is for a permit to enter the next day).

Dave was very interested in going to this place, so we stopped at the BLM office near the site to ask about the lottery, how to participate, etc.  We got there at 3 pm on the day we arrived in the area.  Dave asked, "I know this is a long shot, but…"  After the park employees chuckled a bit, one said, "Actually, this is your lucky day!  A man who won a permit in this morning’s lottery left early and never claimed his ticket.  So you can buy his permit for tomorrow!"

This was incredible luck.  But the permit was for just one person to enter, so we decided Dave would go to the Coyote Buttes, and I would go on a hike that departs from the same trailhead but is not in the permit area.

I’ve never been on a solo hike before, but the BLM people assured me that it’s ok to do this hike solo, and that there would be other people on the trail as well because it’s a pretty popular hike to do if you don’t get a permit into the Coyote Buttes.  The trail is 3.5 miles round-trip, and goes through a slot canyon called Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch, a very long canyon that people do backpacking/camping trips through.  My plan was to hike to the intersection with Buckskin Gulch, see how I felt, and then either turn back, or hike into Buckskin Gulch for a bit to check that out before turning back.

I was a tiny bit nervous about the solo hike, so Dave an I got two-way radios at the Walmart in Page, AZ.  Never mind the fact that I was in a canyon most of the time and there was no way the radio would work in there.  It was more of a peace of mind thing. 

So Dave and I arrived at the trailhead the next morning, hiked together for about a quarter mile, and then he went off toward the Buttes and I continued down a beautiful wash toward the canyon.  Here is a picture I took from the wash:

Just one of many outstanding views while hiking in the wash of the river

After about a mile, I reached the first narrows.  It was my first time in a slot canyon, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on a hike (more on other slot canyons in the area in a separate post!).  The canyon was about 3 – 4 feet wide in most parts.  Here are representative pictures:

The wash leads into the first narrows section

The beautiful sandstone walls of Wire Pass range from about 20 feet to 100 feet high

Pretty soon after I reached the canyon, I hit my first obstacle.  The people at the BLM office told me there was one part of the canyon where a boulder was stuck between the walls, creating a place where a hiker has to lower him/herself down to the next section of the canyon.  They said the boulder was chest high.  With all due respect, it’s probably only chest high on a pro basketball player.  It was just over my head.  Not that I knew this when I got there, because I was on the high end looking down.  It looked pretty scary, and I sat on the rock for a full five minutes before I worked up my courage to go down.  In my head, I thought, "I’m sure I can get down ok, if ungracefully, but can I get back up by myself?"

I decided to go for it, partly because I wanted to push myself, and partly because I knew it would be a pretty long, boring day for me if I gave up this early and went back to the car when Dave wouldn’t be back from taking photos for at least 5 hours.  Here is the picture I took of the boulder from the bottom:

This giant boulder was taller than me!

I wish I had put something in the picture for scale, but you’ll have to trust me that it’s a big boulder.  The rope you see is supposed to help people climb up the boulder, but it was useless because the boulder is round; if you put your foot in the toeloop, it just goes forward underneath the boulder.

The rest of the way to Buckskin Gulch was beautiful, fun, and I went along without incident.  The other drops along the way were easy to step down, or manage by sitting on the rock and dropping down from there.  I didn’t see anyone else the whole time I went through Wire Pass on the way toward Buckskin Gulch.  When I got to the intersection, I met three guys who were eating lunch (they were hiking Buckskin Gulch on a multi-day trek).  One of them took my picture:

Proud solo hiker

You can probably tell by the picture that I was pretty satisfied with myself at this point, doing this solo hike, conquering boulders, etc.  I decided to turn left into Buckskin Gulch (upstream, if there were any water at that point, but it was bone dry).  I hiked about a half mile into the canyon, then turned around.  Buckskin Gulch was wider than Wire Pass, but I still wouldn’t want to get caught in there when there was any water.  Here is a picture I took there:

Buckskin Gulch

I went back to the intersection, ate lunch (peanut butter and jelly!), and headed back through Wire Pass.  I started to see people on the way back (must have been that time of day).  When I got back to the giant boulder, a couple was just finishing helping each other up there.  I wanted to see if I could do it myself, but I must have hemmed and hawed a little too long, because the guy in the couple asked me if I wanted help, and I accepted after unsuccessfully trying alone for about 30 seconds.  I probably could have done it eventually, but I’m glad I had help – it took a lot of energy.  After I was out of the canyon, I reached for my two-way radio to try to call Dave.  But it wasn’t in the holster!  ARGH!

I assumed that it must have fallen off when I was climbing up that damn boulder.  Luckily, that wasn’t too far away, so I went back to it to look.  There was a guy about to come up the boulder when I got there, and I asked, "Do you see a two-way radio down there?"  The man said, "Ah HA!  No, it’s not down here, but we saw it further down the trail."  Because they didn’t know whether someone lost it coming or going, they had placed it on a ledge where they found it.  Then man said it was about 300 yards away.  Doesn’t sound too bad, except now I would have to do this stupid rock all over again.  Ugh.  I was starting to get tired.

I dropped down the boulder (much easier the second time), ran down the trail as fast as I could, seeing several groups of people who all assured me that the radio was on a ledge, not far now, etc.  I ditched my pack and hiking poles at a more open spot and started running.  I found my radio on a ledge of the canyon.  It was almost at the intersection of Buckskin Gulch.  I must not have put it on my holster tightly enough after lunch.

I raced through the canyon one more time so that I’d catch up with the last people I saw, because now I knew I would need help getting up that boulder (it wasn’t easier the second time).  I stuck near my new friends and made it up that rock one last time, this time with my radio secured inside my pack.  Once I got out into the wash, I had a mile left to hike to return to the car.  With the running back and forth, I probably hiked a little more than 5 miles that day.  I was exhausted, but I couldn’t have been happier.  What a fun day!

Dave got some amazing pictures on his adventure that day – he’ll post them separately.

- Meredith

Here is the view from our tent at the campground in Monument Valley, UT:

Of course, if you read the last post, you’ll know that we didn’t actually sleep in the tent that night, so the view would have been the same background with a tent that looked as if it would blow away any minute.  We took this picture before the wind really kicked up.

- Meredith

We stayed overnight at Monument Valley.  There’s only one place to stay right now – it’s like a small town, with a lodge, a restaurant, a gas station, a grocery and general store, and a campground.

It was quite breezy and dusty while we were touring Monument Valley, and we got to our camp site before sunset in order to set up our tent while it was still light out.  The wind made it difficult to set our tent up, but we managed it with the help of a nice man staying in an RV in a site nearby (thanks Irv from Salt Lake City!).

We went to dinner at the restaurant, and when we left, the wind had become even more intense.  We were worried about whether we would still have a tent upon returning to our camp site.  Fortunately, our tent was still there.  The wind was pounding on it, but it was holding relatively steady.  However, when I unzipped the tent fly and looked into the tent, I found it filled with sand.

I should probably tell you that we have a three-season tent.  That means the tent itself has open mesh windows, and you keep the elements out with the fly that goes over the tent.  This system works just fine when the elements are coming at the tent from above.  But we learned that when the elements are coming from the side, our tent can’t handle it.  Stupid tent.

We made the decision after looking at the tent that we would sleep in the car.  While we wouldn’t get a comfortable night’s sleep, at least we wouldn’t have sand swirling all around us (at least not as much as in the tent.  The inside of our car was covered in dust by the next morning!).  The wind was howling all night, shaking the car, and we could hear sand and little stones hitting the car with each big gust.  I woke up each time, expecting to see that our tent had blown away.  Actually, I was kind of *hoping* it had blown away.  You have to understand, I was really upset at the tent for not being able to shelter us that night.  Sleeping in the car was really uncomfortable!

At some point in the night, the people who were staying in a tent near us just packed up and left.  And the other tent people near us left before sunrise.  The wind was still gusting when we packed up to leave at about 8:00 am.  We couldn’t even see the monuments in the valley when the sun came up because the dust storm was clouding the view.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  We couldn’t wait to get out of that hellhole.

Here is a picture of the dust cloud surrounding Monument Valley as we were driving away:

Now we need to find a new tent with sealed windows.

- Meredith